Abroad jobs for Bangladeshis usually dry out on Covid

The outflow of staff from Bangladesh has nearly remained halted because of the jinxes of travel restrictions and latest regulations of quarantine by job destination countries.

Manpower recruiters said they could see a poor level of migration from the united states like the previous calendar year due to the fallout of the deadly virus.

They suggested that the federal government take effective initiatives to contain the transmission of the pathogen for the sake of economy together with public health.

According to statistics readily available with the Bureau of Manpower Career and Training, Bangladesh sent 217,669 staff abroad in 2020.

Alternatively, 85,242 personnel have gone abroad in the earliest 8 weeks of current year.

Saudi Arabia declared that travellers from overseas countries would require to check out mandatory quarantine once they reach there from May 20.

As instructed, the travellers who got two pictures of vaccine against Covid-19 and passed at least fourteen days because the second shot won't need any resort booking for quarantine.

They will rather be staying in home quarantine for weekly after reaching the kingdom.

Alternatively, countries just like the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait and Singapore recently suspended commercial flights and access of travellers from Bangladesh following a spike in Covid-19 infection.

Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman, immediate-past secretary general of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Organizations (BAIRA), said they largely shed in 2020 for travel around ban by the receiving countries.

The trend of migration was gradually returning to normal in the beginning of 2021, however the second wave of coronavirus dealt another blow to the sector, he cited.

Possessed the outflow been uninterrupted, Mr Noman said, 200,000 to 300,000 staff could have gone overseas over the past few months.

But multiple manpower marketplaces imposed a travel ban. Even the brand new Saudi hotel quarantine coverage has got severely impacted the country's overseas employment industry.

Each worker will require Tk 60,000-70,000 to avail quarantine facility in Saudi Arabia.

Presently, the airfare is varying from Tk 70,000 to Tk 80,000 each.

Therefore, Mr Noman said, a worker would need to pay about Tk 140,000 to meet up airfare and hotel hire, thus leading to a high migration cost.

As workers neglect to make the expenditures, according to him, they can not visit the destination.

Mintu Hossain, a worker, paid Tk 400,000 to go to Saudi Arabia as his air travel was scheduled for the first week of June, but his recruiter asked an additional Tk 70,000 for quarantine facility.

"It is difficult for me personally to arrange such a sizable amount of money currently," Mr Hossain said, adding: "I am waiting for a new decision…"

Ali Haider Chowdhury, former BAIRA secretary, said Saudi Arabia was the lone nation that continued to recruit a substantial number of personnel following travel ban by other locations.

Manpower recruiters were dealing with 70,000 visas of Saudi-bound staff. But they could certainly not send personnel due to a higher cost of quarantine, he stated.

The federal government should address this issue immediately, added Mr Chowdhury.

Regarding to Mr Noman, they communicated with their particular employers to bear the price of hotel quarantine.

In addition they requested the ministries concerned to speak to their counterparts to ensure that personnel can complete quarantine in the home.

Bangladesh used to send an estimated 700,000 personnel abroad each year through the pre-pandemic period.

It has sent a lot more than 13-million staff abroad since 1976. Of them, Saudi Arabia has employed about 4.2-million Bangladeshis.